[SOLVED] Am i doing something wrong with undervolting or it's just bad sillicon lottery luck?

[rochismo]

Hello, i have purchased last month a MSI Suprim X RTX 3080 Ti and i noticed it runs really hot (reaching around 80-82 Cº) so i tried undervolting and it consumes around 350-400w.

I am completely new to undervolting with MSI afterburner so i watched like 3-4 tutorials and i don't know what i could be doing wrong.

The first thing i do is reduce the core clock to -400mhz and then i try to set the clock around 1850mhz @ .865Mv and it works but it still consumes 350w and, if i am not mistaken, the whole point of undervolting is to reduce power draw with minimal loss of performance, or without any loss (if so gains).

I can't get past that, only by rising the voltage but that's not what i want to do.

I have seen videos of people undervolting rtx 3090 and they get it to be stable at 1900mhz @ 837mv and heck, even a guy with the same exact GPU as i have can get it up to 1920mhz @ 843 or so..

Am i just having bad luck? Doing something wrong?

Also, the clock and voltages seem to be unstable while gaming, but when i run the benchmark it seems "stable" because it doesn't make it crash.

If it helps, the games i tried were:

• The Witcher 3 @ 3840 x 2160 all on ultra
• Metro Exodus @ 3840 x 2160 all on ultra, DLSS set to quality and ray tracing on ultra

My setup is the following:

• Ryzen 9 3900X @ 4.2ghz~1.175mv
• MSI Suprim X RTX 3080 Ti
• Asus Rog Strix B550-F
• Corsair Vengeance RGB 8x4 @ 3600mhz
• Corsair H150i Elite Capellix as top intake
• Lian-li O11D XL
• 7x Corsair QL120 fans (1 exhaust rear, 3 intake bottom, 3 exhaust side)
• Corsair RM1000X

PD: Setting the fan curve to any custom fan curve i make won't make much difference because it's still consuming 350-400w and ejecting the heat and causing my pc (and my room) to get really hot.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

Corsair H150i Elite Capellix as top intake
Lian-li O11D XL
7x Corsair QL120 fans (1 exhaust rear, 3 intake bottom, 3 exhaust side)

you system-wide cooling setup isn't well optimized. this could very well be causing higher than normal GPU temperatures.
all of your cool air intake is being sucked directly out of the side exhaust before it has as a chance to effectively circulate the case and cool components.
and your AIO is just pumping CPU warmed air back into the system.

rotate your radiator fans so they are exhausting out through the radiator.
and rotate the side fans to intake.

 

[rochismo]

you system-wide cooling setup isn't well optimized. this could very well be causing higher than normal GPU temperatures.
all of your cool air intake is being sucked directly out of the side exhaust before it has as a chance to effectively circulate the case and cool components.
and your AIO is just pumping CPU warmed air back into the system.

rotate your radiator fans so they are exhausting out through the radiator.
and rotate the side fans to intake.

That's how i had my setup before. The radiator was exhaust but the coolant temp reached 57ºC and going forwards after 10 min of playing a game (prior to knowing how to undervolt). My guess is to move the radiator to the side but the problem is still there, i don't want my GPU to be consuming 350-400w

 

[Unolocogringo]

Have you tried MSI Afterburner power limit slider?

 

[rochismo]

Have you tried MSI Afterburner power limit slider?

Yes, i set it down to 80% but the clock is sitting around 1750-1775mhz, isn't that losing performance?

 

[HappyTrails]

That does sound little warm. Maybe believe there is some truth to silicon lotteries. Was surprise how much lower I can set voltage on a 6700xt but there is point where it just doesn't like it too much. Does lower temps very much, its maybe 28c idles, 50c in games. Not as cool as waterblocked gpu but its not bad I think. Maybe you can keep doing some trial and error maybe that is all that card is capable of.

Same case here and good advice to exhaust on radiators it make the big difference here too. 7 LL120s, 3 exhaust top, 3 exhaust bottom and 1 intake back. Recent add fan at back and was expecting more lower temps but it not showing up on my info. It probably is cooling power stages and moving hot air away from other components too so maybe some benefit that cant be measured.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

i don't want my GPU to be consuming 350-400w

if the only negative aspect of having it run at default power is higher temperatures than working on lowering the temperature is solving your issue.

try running graphic intensive software; games, stress test, etc.
leave the case side panel off and set a high airflow static room fan blowing directly onto the GPU.
if the average temperatures go down some then you know it is the case airflow setup causing the issue.

 

[rochismo]

if the only negative aspect of having it run at default power is higher temperatures than working on lowering the temperature is solving your issue.

try running graphic intensive software; games, stress test, etc.
leave the case side panel off and set a high airflow static room fan blowing directly onto the GPU.
if the average temperatures go down some then you know it is the case airflow setup causing the issue.

Well, first i don't have enough space in my room to do that but thanks for the suggestion.

I don't have a doubt that the airflow is an issue because the QL fans they light more than they move air through the case. What i was thinking of doing is to set the rad on the side (with the QL fans set as intake) and set the ML rad fans on top as exhaust.

If i do that the airflow should be like this:

• 3x QL120 1600 RPM Intake bottom
• 3x QL120 1600 RPM Intake side + rad
• 3x ML120 1600-2500 RPM exhaust top
• 1x QL120 1600 RPM exhaust rear

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

i was thinking of doing is to set the rad on the side (with the QL fans set as intake)

3x QL120 1600 RPM Intake side + rad

you will always be better off temperature-wise when exhausting out through any radiators.
you do not want the air heated by the CPU being cycled back into the case and warming all other components.

 

[rochismo]

you will always be better off temperature-wise when exhausting out through any radiators.
you do not want the air heated by the CPU being cycled back into the case and warming all other components.

So, if i set the radiator on the side and the fans as exhaust wouldn't it be counterproductive? I mean, the gpu will blow heat out and the fans will give it to the rad, making the coolant temp highrise..

 

[Flyfisherman]

Pure and simple: Your temp reaching around 80-82 Cº on the new MSI Suprim X RTX 3080 Ti , while gaming at high settings?
Ok,
You have a very poor chassis, cooling on the CPU and less effective fans to exhaust the heat.

 

[Phaaze88]

I have seen videos of people undervolting rtx 3090 and they get it to be stable at 1900mhz @ 837mv and heck, even a guy with the same exact GPU as i have can get it up to 1920mhz @ 843 or so..

I really doubt those are stable, because of how the Gpu Boost algorithm behaves.


Corsair QLs are all showpiece, no performance. They don't move that much air, even at 100%, and if there's even light air resistance present, their performance tanks more.
Even if you were to open your Dynamic XL to feel the air coming off these fans, it doesn't count, because by opening the chassis, you've changed the paths of the airflow.
When you're just browsing the web, watching some videos, or idling on the desktop, it's no big deal; your system isn't producing that much heat.
But once that beefy gpu gets going, and power consumption goes up, you need faster air movement, and the QLs can't do it; they're pretty much already maxed out.
Only the fans off the H150i Elite Capellix can ramp up and try to get some air moving faster... but they're clearly not enough.

The 360mm AIO is rather inflexible too.
Top mounted is going to be the best as far as noise and longevity are concerned.
Mounting it at the sides probably is the best for thermals, but you won't be able to keep it there as long, due to permeation over time and the increase in air volume making more noise at the inlet side of the radiator.

 

[rochismo]

I really doubt those are stable, because of how the Gpu Boost algorithm behaves.


Corsair QLs are all showpiece, no performance. They don't move that much air, even at 100%, and if there's even light air resistance present, their performance tanks more.
Even if you were to open your Dynamic XL to feel the air coming off these fans, it doesn't count, because by opening the chassis, you've changed the paths of the airflow.
When you're just browsing the web, watching some videos, or idling on the desktop, it's no big deal; your system isn't producing that much heat.
But once that beefy gpu gets going, and power consumption goes up, you need faster air movement, and the QLs can't do it; they're pretty much already maxed out.
Only the fans off the H150i Elite Capellix can ramp up and try to get some air moving faster... but they're clearly not enough.

The 360mm AIO is rather inflexible too.
Top mounted is going to be the best as far as noise and longevity are concerned.
Mounting it at the sides probably is the best for thermals, but you won't be able to keep it there as long, due to permeation over time and the increase in air volume making more noise at the inlet side of the radiator.

So should i change the QL fans into a better ones? If so, which ones should i take? I don't want to lose the RGB factor on my case if that's possible.

 

[Phaaze88]

So should i change the QL fans into a better ones? If so, which ones should i take? I don't want to lose the RGB factor on my case if that's possible.

Should you? That's up to you to decide. The current dilemma is:
"Things get toasty while gaming, and the air doesn't move in and out fast enough."
Better cooling is also going to heat the room up faster. Can't keep the heat in there - it's gotta get out. A PC is at its core, a space heater.
So how do you effectively get around that?
1)Undervolting the gpu. A good idea, but it only does so much.
https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/233955/msi-rtx3080ti-12288-210511-1
This has a board power limit of 440w, and that's not taking into account the transient power spikes RTX 30 is notorious for - software may not even pick it up.
So you get it down a little with UV'ing, but that's still around 400w from this part. Yikes.
The 3900X is already pretty power efficient, so tinkering with it won't be quite as effective.

2)Stronger fans? Sure, but how much can your ears tolerate? Just like price is the balance between supply and demand - your ears are the balance between cooling performance and noise.
The higher you can comfortably run your fans, the better.
Lian Li has their UNI fans... Yeah, I know - not Corsair. But Corsair's RGB alternatives don't offer that much more performance from the QLs - also considering how much more money you're going to have to sink into them.
Corsair does have THESE 2200rpm LL120s, but they're only available in white; may or may not mesh well with whatever theme you've got going.

3)If you have A/C, run it for longer periods. Understandably, electricity isn't cheap everywhere, so I don't know if this is a reasonable option to you or not.

4)DIY an air duct from the PC's exhausts to the window, or out the door.
OK, likely not an option at all unless you're feeling adventurous. Perhaps there's another means of 'guiding' the heat out of your room...

5)A mesh chassis, like Lian Li's own Lancool 2 Mesh? That would allow you to get a little more out of the QLs, at least.
The QLs do better with as few restrictions as possible, and about the only thing that bests mesh in that department, is open bench.
A hard pill to swallow, sure.


I've got a bad habit of dragging on, so a simpler version of the above:
Do a combination of 1 and 3(if possible) so you don't have to spend a ton of cash on new parts.
There's also #4, which doesn't necessarily require a duct - a fan(box or pedestal) could also do it.

 

[rochismo]

Should you? That's up to you to decide. The current dilemma is:
"Things get toasty while gaming, and the air doesn't move in and out fast enough."
Better cooling is also going to heat the room up faster. Can't keep the heat in there - it's gotta get out. A PC is at its core, a space heater.
So how do you effectively get around that?
1)Undervolting the gpu. A good idea, but it only does so much.
https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/233955/msi-rtx3080ti-12288-210511-1
This has a board power limit of 440w, and that's not taking into account the transient power spikes RTX 30 is notorious for - software may not even pick it up.
So you get it down a little with UV'ing, but that's still around 400w from this part. Yikes.
The 3900X is already pretty power efficient, so tinkering with it won't be quite as effective.

2)Stronger fans? Sure, but how much can your ears tolerate? Just like price is the balance between supply and demand - your ears are the balance between cooling performance and noise.
The higher you can comfortably run your fans, the better.
Lian Li has their UNI fans... Yeah, I know - not Corsair. But Corsair's RGB alternatives don't offer that much more performance from the QLs - also considering how much more money you're going to have to sink into them.
Corsair does have THESE 2200rpm LL120s, but they're only available in white; may or may not mesh well with whatever theme you've got going.

3)If you have A/C, run it for longer periods. Understandably, electricity isn't cheap everywhere, so I don't know if this is a reasonable option to you or not.

4)DIY an air duct from the PC's exhausts to the window, or out the door.
OK, likely not an option at all unless you're feeling adventurous. Perhaps there's another means of 'guiding' the heat out of your room...

5)A mesh chassis, like Lian Li's own Lancool 2 Mesh? That would allow you to get a little more out of the QLs, at least.
The QLs do better with as few restrictions as possible, and about the only thing that bests mesh in that department, is open bench.
A hard pill to swallow, sure.


I've got a bad habit of dragging on, so a simpler version of the above:
Do a combination of 1 and 3(if possible) so you don't have to spend a ton of cash on new parts.
There's also #4, which doesn't necessarily require a duct - a fan(box or pedestal) could also do it.

Thanks for the suggestions, unfortunately all i can afford to do for now is 1 and open the case but the last one is not going to happen. Plus i don't have any working AC unit at home so..

The only thing i got to manage is to undervolt the GPU to 0.8mv running at 1710mhz which is a little above the boost clock frequency of the founders rtx 3080 ti. So that way i'm not "losing" any performance and my gpu stays around 64-65ºC Under load with a custom fan curve.

 

[Phaaze88]

undervolt the GPU to 0.8mv running at 1710mhz which is a little above the boost clock frequency of the founders rtx 3080 ti.

You can offset that some by increasing the frequency at that voltage point in the Curve Editor, but it's darn near impossible to tell how far you can go with it because of the Gpu Boost algorithm.
The darn thing dynamically adjusts frequency and voltage based on the gpu's parameters(mostly power consumption and thermals). Say, for example:
-the frequency literally stays at 1949 in Game A.
-while playing Game B, it throttles down to 1936 from 1949, and pretty much stays there until you're finished.
-another, Game C, it'll bounce around between 1949 - 1831.
This is what I was getting at with those 2 3090 undervolts you mentioned at the beginning: There's no way to tell if those settings they used are actually stable - excluding the ones the gpu does on auto - if the frequency can't be kept static for everything.
Nvidia broke gpu OC for most users. Undervolting these cards is still a bit more productive though.

 

[dorsai]

I'd upgrade your case and leave the pricey GPU at stock settings so you can enjoy the performance it brings to the table.

 

[HappyTrails]

3080ti must be monster for that much power and heat. 👻 👻